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Niemeijer K, Mestdagh M, Verdonck S, Meers K, Kuppens P. Combining Experience Sampling and Mobile Sensing for Digital Phenotyping With m-Path Sense: Performance Study. JMIR Form Res 2023; 7:e43296. [PMID: 36881444 PMCID: PMC10031448 DOI: 10.2196/43296] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/07/2022] [Revised: 01/26/2023] [Accepted: 01/26/2023] [Indexed: 01/28/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The experience sampling methodology (ESM) has long been considered as the gold standard for gathering data in everyday life. In contrast, current smartphone technology enables us to acquire data that are much richer, more continuous, and unobtrusive than is possible via ESM. Although data obtained from smartphones, known as mobile sensing, can provide useful information, its stand-alone usefulness is limited when not combined with other sources of information such as data from ESM studies. Currently, there are few mobile apps available that allow researchers to combine the simultaneous collection of ESM and mobile sensing data. Furthermore, such apps focus mostly on passive data collection with only limited functionality for ESM data collection. OBJECTIVE In this paper, we presented and evaluated the performance of m-Path Sense, a novel, full-fledged, and secure ESM platform with background mobile sensing capabilities. METHODS To create an app with both ESM and mobile sensing capabilities, we combined m-Path, a versatile and user-friendly platform for ESM, with the Copenhagen Research Platform Mobile Sensing framework, a reactive cross-platform framework for digital phenotyping. We also developed an R package, named mpathsenser, which extracts raw data to an SQLite database and allows the user to link and inspect data from both sources. We conducted a 3-week pilot study in which we delivered ESM questionnaires while collecting mobile sensing data to evaluate the app's sampling reliability and perceived user experience. As m-Path is already widely used, the ease of use of the ESM system was not investigated. RESULTS Data from m-Path Sense were submitted by 104 participants, totaling 69.51 GB (430.43 GB after decompression) or approximately 37.50 files or 31.10 MB per participant per day. After binning accelerometer and gyroscope data to 1 value per second using summary statistics, the entire SQLite database contained 84,299,462 observations and was 18.30 GB in size. The reliability of sampling frequency in the pilot study was satisfactory for most sensors, based on the absolute number of collected observations. However, the relative coverage rate-the ratio between the actual and expected number of measurements-was below its target value. This could mostly be ascribed to gaps in the data caused by the operating system pushing away apps running in the background, which is a well-known issue in mobile sensing. Finally, some participants reported mild battery drain, which was not considered problematic for the assessed participants' perceived user experience. CONCLUSIONS To better study behavior in everyday life, we developed m-Path Sense, a fusion of both m-Path for ESM and Copenhagen Research Platform Mobile Sensing. Although reliable passive data collection with mobile phones remains challenging, it is a promising approach toward digital phenotyping when combined with ESM.
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Affiliation(s)
- Koen Niemeijer
- Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Merijn Mestdagh
- Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Stijn Verdonck
- Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Kristof Meers
- Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Peter Kuppens
- Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
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Beukenhorst AL, Burke KM, Scheier Z, Miller TM, Paganoni S, Keegan M, Collins E, Connaghan KP, Tay A, Chan J, Berry JD, Onnela JP. Using Smartphones to Reduce Research Burden in a Neurodegenerative Population and Assessing Participant Adherence: A Randomized Clinical Trial and Two Observational Studies. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth 2022; 10:e31877. [PMID: 35119373 PMCID: PMC8857693 DOI: 10.2196/31877] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/11/2021] [Revised: 11/10/2021] [Accepted: 12/14/2021] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Smartphone studies provide an opportunity to collect frequent data at a low burden on participants. Therefore, smartphones may enable data collection from people with progressive neurodegenerative diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis at high frequencies for a long duration. However, the progressive decline in patients’ cognitive and functional abilities could also hamper the feasibility of collecting patient-reported outcomes, audio recordings, and location data in the long term. Objective The aim of this study is to investigate the completeness of survey data, audio recordings, and passively collected location data from 3 smartphone-based studies of people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Methods We analyzed data completeness in three studies: 2 observational cohort studies (study 1: N=22; duration=12 weeks and study 2: N=49; duration=52 weeks) and 1 clinical trial (study 3: N=49; duration=20 weeks). In these studies, participants were asked to complete weekly surveys; weekly audio recordings; and in the background, the app collected sensor data, including location data. For each of the three studies and each of the three data streams, we estimated time-to-discontinuation using the Kaplan–Meier method. We identified predictors of app discontinuation using Cox proportional hazards regression analysis. We quantified data completeness for both early dropouts and participants who remained engaged for longer. Results Time-to-discontinuation was shortest in the year-long observational study and longest in the clinical trial. After 3 months in the study, most participants still completed surveys and audio recordings: 77% (17/22) in study 1, 59% (29/49) in study 2, and 96% (22/23) in study 3. After 3 months, passively collected location data were collected for 95% (21/22), 86% (42/49), and 100% (23/23) of the participants. The Cox regression did not provide evidence that demographic characteristics or disease severity at baseline were associated with attrition, although it was somewhat underpowered. The mean data completeness was the highest for passively collected location data. For most participants, data completeness declined over time; mean data completeness was typically lower in the month before participants dropped out. Moreover, data completeness was lower for people who dropped out in the first study month (very few data points) compared with participants who adhered long term (data completeness fluctuating around 75%). Conclusions These three studies successfully collected smartphone data longitudinally from a neurodegenerative population. Despite patients’ progressive physical and cognitive decline, time-to-discontinuation was higher than in typical smartphone studies. Our study provides an important benchmark for participant engagement in a neurodegenerative population. To increase data completeness, collecting passive data (such as location data) and identifying participants who are likely to adhere during the initial phase of a study can be useful. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03168711; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03168711
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna L Beukenhorst
- Department of Biostatistics, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, United States.,Centre for Epidemiology Versus Arthritis, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom
| | - Katherine M Burke
- Neurological Clinical Research Institute and Sean M. Healey & AMG Center for ALS, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Zoe Scheier
- Neurological Clinical Research Institute and Sean M. Healey & AMG Center for ALS, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Timothy M Miller
- Department of Neurology, Washington University, Saint Louis, MO, United States
| | - Sabrina Paganoni
- Neurological Clinical Research Institute and Sean M. Healey & AMG Center for ALS, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, United States.,Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Mackenzie Keegan
- Neurological Clinical Research Institute and Sean M. Healey & AMG Center for ALS, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Ella Collins
- Neurological Clinical Research Institute and Sean M. Healey & AMG Center for ALS, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
| | | | - Anna Tay
- Department of Neurology, Washington University, Saint Louis, MO, United States
| | - James Chan
- Biostatistics Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
| | - James D Berry
- Neurological Clinical Research Institute and Sean M. Healey & AMG Center for ALS, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Jukka-Pekka Onnela
- Department of Biostatistics, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, United States
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